Keep track of high school credits

Calgary Herald08.15.2012

With help from his mom Colleen, career websites, and the guidebook ‘Footprints to your Future,’ Evan Nephin, who starts Grade 10 at Bishop Grandin High School this fall, has already begun planning his credits to graduate and required prerequisite courses to qualify for post-secondary schools.

There’s obviously a whole lot more to graduating than gowns and class rings.

But for the teenager who is heavily focused on the pageantry and freedom from exams, but light on credits, there’s the only one way to ensure your son or daughter finishes Grade 12 with a diploma — count up the credits.

For most students, before High School even begins, they’ve charted their three-year plan in Grade 9.

“If we started the process in Grade 12, we would be in trouble,” says Helen MacKinnon, guidance and counselling consultant with the Calgary Catholic School Division. “So we start in Grade 9.”

In Alberta, high school students need only 100 credits to get that prized piece of paper and ticket to freedom, but for the majority who continue to post-secondary, prerequisite courses with minimum grades may also be needed.

“The junior high counsellors are mentoring the kids, and we consider it a three-year plan,” says MacKinnon of the handy guidebook for Catholic students titled, “Footprints to Your Future: A Grade 9 Guide to High School.”

The guide provides information and valuable tools to help students decide which courses to select based on topics of interest to them. It outlines what doors these choices will open or close as it relates to post-secondary options and career choices.

Choosing a career is a sometimes uncharted territory because it requires teens to undertake some soul searching and imagine themselves in the adult world of work. MacKinnon recommends checking out Alberta Learning Services website at www.alis.alberta.ca, which offers handy questionnaires to help students understand what interests them, and the dozens of careers that may be fitting their strengths. It also lists the range of post-secondary locations offering training, and high school prerequisites.

“The cool thing about this website, is if you are interested in a career, it also what qualities you want as a person, and the pay scale,” adds MacKinnon.

Kids are presented in Grade 10 and again in Grade 12 with the need to assess their standing and how it relates to graduating and getting into post-secondary, says Ed Oke, counsellor with the public school board.

At Catholic schools, students can check their credit standing 24/7 with a school ID number used to log into an account, which keeps a running tally. Meanwhile, counsellors are also tracking progress and can offer guidance.

“At the beginning of the final year the counsellors will do a credit check, and will eyeball the people who might not get the credits,” he says. If a student is sitting at the 99-credit mark, an option for extra credits can fix it. And if it a student is far from achieving their credits, it is usually clear well beforehand.

“It shouldn’t really be a surprise unless they are really in la-la land,” he says.

“Life gets in the way when you are 16 or 17, and suddenly don’t have the marks,” he said.

Whatever the case might be, there is no shame in squeezing in a few courses during the summer or evenings at Chinook Learning Services or St. Anne’s High School — adult schools offering compressed high school courses for about $60 each. There are also online distance-learning courses, but finishing those requires self-discipline, adds Oke.

“Upgrading is not a dirty word,” says Oke. Many attending high school courses as adults may hold diplomas, but need a higher mark or to complete a pre-requisite for a university program.

Even Mount Royal University offers some high school courses for those who might already be on campus if they’ve started a program, but need to simultaneously square away a prerequisite. But courses at Mount Royal are considerably more expensive, at about $500 each.

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